Nicholas R. Petry

A new $1 million endowment to support the construction engineering and management program at the University of Colorado is set up to honor Nicholas Petry, who reshaped Denver — literally. Petry, a 1940 graduate of CU’s Boulder campus who went on to a career in construction management, is well known for the famed moveable east stands at the original Mile High Stadium that his company constructed, the renovation of the Brown Palace and building downtown skyscrapers that redefined the city’s skyline. The Petry Construction Co. completed the east stands in 1977. When fully extended, the stands would form a horseshoe for football games, but when retracted 145 feet, the stadium could fit a normal-sized baseball field. Before his death in 1999, Nicholas Petry and his wife, Nancy, created the $1 million endowment to support the construction engineering and management program in the Boulder campus’ department of civil, environmental and architectural engineering. Nancy and her son, Tim Harrington, recently redesigned the endowment to create the Nicholas R. Petry Professorship of Construction Engineering and Management. Nancy Petry, in a news release, said the gift combines two of her late husband’s passions. “He ardently supported CU, and loved the world of construction management,” she said. “It was a great pleasure for him to watch CU-Boulder’s construction management program grow over the years.” The first Nicholas R. Petry professor will be Bill Yearsley, a 30-year veteran of the construction industry. Yearsley is co-founder of the Denver-based American Civil Constructors and a former CEO of Western Mobile. Yearsley has been a faculty member at the College of Engineering & Applied Science since September 2007. He’s teaching introductory construction and a course in engineering contracts this fall. He said he hopes the position will help educate and inspire the next generation of construction managers to follow in Petry’s footsteps. Source: http://www.cufund.org/2008/09/05/1m-endowment-honors-denver-notable/